


runs in the family (we're bad in the blood)

by transgirluma (gayapplewhite)



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Family Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-18 10:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14211234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayapplewhite/pseuds/transgirluma
Summary: “the girl grinned. “i’m amber dearly. anita’s niece.”carlos felt his heart drop through the floor. “oh,” he said. he couldn't think of what else to say.”or; carlos has a chance encounter with amber dearly.





	runs in the family (we're bad in the blood)

**Author's Note:**

> so i found out anita had a canon niece and i had to let her bond w carlos. also she and ivy grow up and fall in love and get married and it's beautiful k thanks bye. and yeah yeah yeah anita's maiden name isn't _canonly_ dearly but it is now bc i say it is. 
> 
> the title is a modified lyric from “runs in the family” by amanda palmer. anyways please kudos and comment if you enjoyed, it means a lot to me!

“shit. shit. i'm so sorry,” the girl said, bending down to pick up her books from where they’d fallen when she’d bumped into carlos. she had strawberry-blonde hair that fell in her face as she knelt down to pick up her books. 

“it's okay,” carlos said. he bent down to pick up his notebook, where he'd been doodling an idea for a science fair project (his science teacher was making him participate, as if he didn't already have enough on his plate).

the girl looked up from her books and looked at him in confusion. “wait. aren't you carlos? de vil?” she asked. 

carlos held his notebook up against his chest as though it would shield him from being recognized. he hadn't come to this coffee shop to be recognized. he'd just wanted to get off campus for a bit, spend some time away from the school and relax and not think about what had happened at coronation. (it had been a week, but it was still all anyone was talking about). “...yeah,” he said, voice low, a bit reluctant. he couldn't meet her eyes. this was the part of living in auradon he hated the most. the judgement and horror in people’s eyes when they found out who he was. who his mother was. from then on, people assumed they knew what kind of a person he was just because of who his mother was. he couldn’t help but think if they knew chad, they’d think differently. 

the girl’s green eyes widened. “no no no! it's not like that!” she shifted her books to her left hand and held out her right hand to shake. “i'm amber.”

“...okay?” carlos said. he was more than a bit confused at this point, but he shook her hand anyway. something in him told him it was what fairy godmother would have wanted him to do, which meant it was probably the polite thing to do.

the girl grinned. “i’m amber dearly. anita’s niece.”

carlos felt his heart drop through the floor. “oh,” he said. he couldn't think of what else to say. 

“i've really wanted to meet you,” she said. “let me buy you coffee. i insist.”

“sure,” carlos said, and ordered a plain black coffee. it wasn't like he _liked_ plain black coffee, but he sure as hell wasn't going to drink anything a stranger gave him, let alone a stranger who was related to anita.

once they'd both gotten their coffee, and sat down at a small table next to the window, amber smiled at carlos. “i just wanted to say i'm sorry,” she said, and carlos blinked. but before he could interject, she went on. “my aunt practically raised me. i spent summers, christmas, any time i could out on her farm. and so i know what cruella was capable of. she's told me. i can't imagine growing up around her.”

carlos swirled the wooden stirrer around in his coffee. “it uh, wasn't the greatest,” he admitted. 

“i just. i wanted to apologise for you having to live with that. we didn't - well, not me, i wasn't born when the isle was created, but my aunt and uncle, they didn't think there’d be any children. they um,” here amber paused and took a sip of her coffee, almost nervously. “they want to meet you, carlos.”

“they do?” carlos said. “why?” his stomach twisted when he thought about the idea of meeting the people who had imprisoned his mother (and by extension, him) on the isle.

“they want to apologize. aunt anita and cruella were school friends, and aunt anita thinks it's her fault that she never saved cruella.”

“what was there to save?” carlos blurted without thinking. he’d never thought that his mother had been anything other than the way she was - cruel, calculated, crazy.

amber pulled out her phone and scrolled for a minute before finding a photo. in it, a strawberry-blonde girl and a dark haired girl with heavy-lidded eyes were laughing, and it took carlos a second before realizing that the dark-haired woman was his mother.

“she looks like ivy,” he muttered, and meant it. if ivy didn't have half her hair bleached white, carlos might think this was a picture of her. he almost did, even knowing that it wasn't her. it sickened him, how much ivy looked like his mother. he thought it would sicken ivy too, if she knew.

“who?” amber asked quietly. there was a gentle, heartbroken look on her face. she paused for a moment, and then amber asked, “is she your sister?”

“ivy? no,” carlos said, a bit surprised. “no, ivy’s my oldest cousin. cyrus de vil’s daughter.” 

“they sent cruella’s _brothers_ to the isle?” amber asked. her face was less sad now, more shock and outrage, and carlos leaned away from her. he didn't like it when people were angry. “why?” amber asked. carlos thought it was the only thing she knew to say. 

“crazy runs in the family, i guess,” carlos shrugged. “you showed me that picture. how long was it going to be before one of them snapped? they couldn't take that risk.” and then, under his breath, he added, “cyrus deserves to rot there.”

amber's brows furrowed with something like sympathy. “did her hurt you?” she asked, quietly, carefully. there was something in her eyes that made him realize she saw him as something delicate, something breakable. carlos hated it.

“hurt ivy,” carlos corrected. he'd hate cruella until the day he died, but there would be a part of him that would always feel as though he'd deserved what he'd done to her. he knew ivy, on the other hand, didn't deserve what he father had done to her. 

“wait,” amber said. “oldest cousin? do you have others?” her brow furrowed as she reached over to take carlos’s hand. she squeezed it, obviously trying to be comforting, but carlos shied away nonetheless. he wasn’t comfortable with people touching him unless it was someone he knew well. the only people who he felt comfortable with were mal, evie, and jay, and amber was none of those people. 

“yea,” carlos said. “diego. cecil de vil’s son.”

amber sighed. “i'm so sorry,” she said, and then she looked away before looking back at carlos. she looked as though she wanted to say something, but couldn’t quite bring herself to say it. after another long pause, amber said softly, “my dad was abusive too.”

“what?” carlos said in confusion. “i thought - i thought all the bad people were on the isle.”

“nope,” amber said. “not everyone in auradon is good, just like not everyone on the isle is bad.”

“huh,” carlos said. he didn't know what else to say. amber wrote something on a napkin and passed it to carlos. carlos took it. it was a phone number. 

“i just want you to know that i'm here for you, carlos, okay? i may not know what the isle is like, but i know what having a shitty parent is like, and if you need anything, call me.” amber smiled warmly at him as she gathered up her books. carlos felt something warm and for a moment carlos almost felt comfortable around amber. “if you just want to talk, or if you want recommendations for a therapist,” she paused here for a moment, looking down at the photo of dude that was carlos’s lock screen, “and if you ever want to come to the farm, just give me a call.”


End file.
